Increasingly, methods of people and goods transportation are moving away from the use of the internal combustion engine and toward the use of electric motors. This change is due to several factors, including: increased fuel costs for internal combustion engines, polluting effects of internal combustion engines, and greater efficiency of electric motors. However, there are still barriers to the widespread use of electric vehicles. For instance, completely electric vehicles are often powered by onboard batteries that must be recharged when exhausted. The recharging time can be quite lengthy lasting anywhere from forty-five minutes to four hours or more.
The battery charge time can be decreased by building a dedicated charging station that can handle larger electricity loads at the location where the electric vehicle is typically garaged. However, building these stations can be cost prohibitive for an average consumer. Thus, the average U.S. consumer is limited to the 120 volt outlet currently in use in most U.S. homes. This means that the average consumer of an electric vehicle is stuck with longer charge times.
Another barrier to electric vehicle adoption is the limited range of electric vehicles between charges. Due to the size and weight of the batteries, the number of batteries that can be placed on any particular vehicle is limited. This limits the amount of electrical energy available to power the electric vehicle, thus limiting the range between charges. Many modern purely electric vehicles are limited to a range of two hundred to three hundred miles between charges. Hybrid vehicles, vehicles powered with both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, are an attempt to overcome the range limitation. In the short term, hybrid vehicles provide a solution to the range limitation, allowing an electric vehicle to increase its range by refueling with conventional gasoline. However, over the long term, hybrid vehicles do not solve the problems, described above, faced by the use of internal combustion engines.
In a similar vein, efforts to convert the U.S. rail system from the use of polluting fossil fuels are stymied by the amount of electricity needed to move large loads long distances. Electric trains require a near continuous supply of electricity. This requirement limits the use of electric trains to environments where sufficient capital is available to build the electric infrastructure needed to supply continuous electricity. A desire to invest such capital does not presently exist outside of major metropolitan areas. Without a source of continuous electricity, an electric train must rely on batteries in the same way an electric vehicle would. The power needs of electric trains necessitate that an electric train carry batteries in such a large amount that the weight added to the electric train's load and the lengthy charge times make this an impractical option. Thus, the lack of an available electricity source stymies any efforts to produce and operate electric trains for people and goods transportation.
Therefore, it would be desirable for means of charging an electric vehicle and electric train while in use without the need for an internal combustion engine or dedicated outlet. The means for solving many of the above-described problems would preferably also provide an alternative mechanism for braking an electric vehicle.